Featured Film Review
Starring: Judi Dench, Maggie SmithDirector: Charles Dance
Genre: Drama Rating: PG-13
Writing credits
William J. Locke (short story)
Charles Dance (screenplay)
I love films that are foreign and a bit odd.....better still films that transcend time and language and place. Films that MAY be filmed in one country but could really be any country, any language, the characters could very well be people you know. There is one such film rented by Frenchie as a treat for me not long ago that utterly enchanted us both. "Ladies in Lavender", 2004, 103 minutes directed by Charles Dance starring Dame Judi Dench, Dame (if memory serves, this is a recent title for her) Maggie Smith and Daniel Brühl (copied from imdb as I just can't figure out how to get the double dots over the u).
A young Polish man washes ashore the Cornish coast and is found by elderly sisters who live together nearby. They nurse him back to health and discover in the course of his healing time that he is a musician, particularly good at the violin. One sister, Ursula, heart-breakingly played by Dame Judi Dench, falls in love with the young man while the other, Janet, brought to life by Dame Maggie Smith, finds that her maternal nurturing side is touched by him. The young man, Andrea, played by Daniel Brühl is quiet, curious, and slowly learns English with the ladies and their housekeeper played by Miriam Margolyes, who is also seen recently as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. Ursula has never known the love of a man and has found that suddenly she is an old woman, yet her desires have refused to age. Janet, who was at one time married and widowed shortly after during WWI has known love and was at one time a nurse who has travelled. She sees Ursula as naive and gentle and she is sad for her while at the same time she is mortified at Ursula's feelings for this young man.
A young woman, Olga, played by the beautiful and excentric Natascha McElhone, hears Andrea playing the violin and as she has been raised with art and music knows him as a talent with the strings. Her interest in Andrea drives Ursula to distraction and neither Ursula or Janet will let her near him for fear that she will somehow take him away.
This is a story of love, of loss, of discovery and music. It is a story with no explosions or torrents of swearing or nudity. What it is, is a story...and a beautifully told one at that. The characters could indeed be people that you know or have met at one time. They each have lived - and what was phenomenal was watching how Ursula has maintained that inner child, how she plays even as a silver-haired old woman at the seaside splashing around and laughing with a freedom some people in their 20's have not been able to maintain. I found myself feeling for Ursula and for Janet who had never had children of her own but had so desperately wanted them - though it is never spoken, you can see it in how she is with Andrea. Dorcas, their housekeeper, is constantly making wise-cracks, has the smart mouth of the household and the biggest heart to go with it, though she wouldn't thank you for noticing. When she walks by two old men sitting on a bench she snaps at them and one of them says to the other, "she was a real cracker in her day!" I found myself laughing out loud, the old men were very much like the old men in the theatre box in the Muppet Show, always a comment, and usually so funny you wouldn't want to laugh but just couldn't help yourself.
If you are looking for something simple but brilliant, watch this movie. If you want to be touched to the core of your soul with rugged beauty of the seaside and windswept cliffs and genuine, generous people, watch this movie. If you want action, explosions, or Quentin Tarantino, pass it by.
I give it 5 cauldrons, filled to the brim. (5 being bloody brilliant
LOL)
Reviewer: Cerr
If you would like to join in on a discussion about this film, please go to the forum here: Ladies in Lavender